Various driver-support systems have been implemented in vehicles to protect drivers and passengers, assist the driver in the vehicle and improve the ride of the vehicle. Recently, there has been further advancement of this technology to help improve and develop these driver-support systems.
Technology for recognizing traffic lanes via a vision sensor (e.g., a camera) and performing an automatic steering operation has been practical use. Conventionally, an image recognition/processing device detects and provides image information associated with the vehicle environment within the traffic lanes, the left and right sides of the traffic lanes, and other moving vehicles within the lanes to enable a display unit to display the image information so that the drivers can conveniently recognize the traffic lanes, traffic status and movement information of peripheral vehicles though the displayed information.
On the other hand, a starting point, route and turning point in an expressway cannot be determined by an automobile if the automobile does not have highly advanced artificial intelligence. Thus, research on technology for combining an automatic traveling operation with a global positioning system (GPS), a communication function between on-road vehicles using local area communications and a telematics function is ongoing. There is a problem in that the reliability of conventional systems is not completely assured and hence errors in conventional systems are still present.